Other Spaceships

This is a sampling of some of the other science fiction and fantasy models I have built...

This is the Luna, from the 1950's SF film "Destination Moon". I photoshopped in a starfield to recreate the look and feel of the movie. I love the simple elegance of vintage spacecraft.

The Eagle, from Space 1999, represents the flip side of the vintage rocket. Its all-business look of exposed machinery and piping is the polar opposite of the sensuous lines and shiny metal of the 50's spaceship. The cratered moon surface of this display was created the same way they did it in the TV series, by flicking drops of water onto wet plaster of paris.

This is a diorama of two familiar figures and their vehicles.

I had difficulty finding a classic Wonder Woman in this scale (approx 1/24), so I had to make do with a more modern version, which I carved and completely repainted to look like the more iconic Bronze Age Amazon. Her magic lasso was made from gold jewelry wire. Her star-spangled shorts were decorated using dry rub transfers. Her jet is a see-through Hasagawa 1/32 scale F-86 Sabre. I would have preferred an F-104, which more closely resembles her jet from the seventies, but see-through model jet kits of any kind are as rare as hens teeth, so I couldn't be choosy. Who really knows what her invisible jet looks like, anyway?

The batmobile model contains some interesting detail, including what may be one of the smallest things I've ever fabricated for a model: the phone cord for the batphone. It was created by wrapping fine copper wire around a slightly larger wire.

This is the C-57D suspended by hanging in front of a suitable backdrop. (Robbie is a vintage talking Trendmasters toy). The saucer is supended with tungsten wire, just like the original studio model. Tungsten wire is great for flying movieminiatures, as it is both very strong, has a matte finish, and conducts electricty (which can be used to power the model). It absolutely sucks to work with, though, being so brittle that a single kink will inevitably result in a break. I went through 25 feet of rather expensive wire just trying to get four strands tied off. I would recommend using fishing line sprayed with a matte coat for hanging your own miniatures.

This is Gwangi, a resin kit sculpted by the brilliant Joe Loudati. Gwangi is the star of the Harryhausen flick, "Valley of the Gwangi", and is shown here rampaging in front of the Cuenca Cathedral in Spain, where the movie was filmed. I am working on upgrading this diorama to depict the climax of the film INSIDE the cathedral, at which point it will probably get its own web page.